I know what you’re thinking: “Every country needs Jesus, not just France.”… and you’re absolutely right!

I follow news from the USA as well as from Canada, so I have a certain awareness of what’s happening there. But I’m not in touch with goings-on in North America to the same extent or in the same way as I am with goings-on here in France.

France in Turmoil

To a large degree, France is in the midst of a popular uprising.

No doubt you’ve seen images and video footage of what’s been going on here and it’s true… it IS terrible! We’re saddened by the violence that is portrayed in the media.

For the most part, we don’t see that violence first hand, because we’re not in Paris or another large center. We do have our disruptions though and even after the president made some concessions, the protests have continued (with more slated for today – Saturday)

In addition to that, this week’s shooting in Strasbourg has upset the apple cart even further.

Senseless violence and offense is everywhere. Whoever coined the phrase “culture of outrage” should really have copywrited it.. they’d be making a fortune today. But peace, satisfaction and contentment can really only be found in the Lord… which is what brought us here in the first place.

Christmas is Coming…

You know Christmas is just around the corner when you see suits like this one start to surface.

Dominic wore his to school this week and was the talk of the town (to quote the name of an old radio call-in show from my childhood).

As you can imagine he got lots of comments – even from his school head-mistress – and they used a picture of him to promote the school’s “red & white” school spirit day, coming up this week.

He’s not too tickled!  😉

Gramma-Time

We got to celebrate Gramma’s birthday this week, which was nice… first time in a few years.

She arrived on her birthday, so the celebration was a little late but it was no less sweet.

We haven’t done much “extra” stuff with her yet as the kids are still in school, but just having her here is a real treat!

Fragile Ornaments

This weekend we’ll be decorating our tree. Apparently we’re WOE-fully behind, judging by what I see coming through Facebook as well as via Sophie’s reminders. 🙂

As we do, and as you have perhaps already done, we unpack ornaments that have traveled through life with us for varying lengths of time: Some are handmade, some were purchased abroad, all come with a story.

Because they are precious, we pack them away with a little extra care and a few extra layers of tissue paper. With time, their value increases simply because they become a treasured part of Christmas… always finding a spot on the tree and a smile dawns on our face as we pull them out of their tissue-filled box. From time to time, one falls to the ground and breaks – despite our care and we’re sad to see it go because it cannot be replaced.

We – you and I – are like those ornaments… the special ones. Oh sure, sometimes we feel like we get knocked around more than we’d like, and perhaps we’re even scared of breaking at times. But the difference between us and those ornaments, is that there is always one more layer of tissue paper between us and the breaking point.

In our 20+ years of marriage and service, our faith has not been tried like it’s been tried over the past several weeks. But just when you least expect it, the Lord makes some small thing happen that reminds us of his faithfulness; the fog clears for another few meters and we take a few more steps by faith.

²⁴ For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. ²⁶ In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.”  Romans 8.24-26

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Thanks for stopping by today.
Let what you read inform your prayers for us and for France.
Let me leave you with a view of our local city hall decked out for Christmas.